HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Hardy Walker III was baptized as a young boy shortly after his father's death in 1972. But as a Grissom High School senior in 1981 Walker, one of the city's more celebrated football prospects who played offensive tackle at Alabama, decided to be saved again after hearing James Robinson deliver a sermon at Willowbrook Baptist Church.

"Gentle giant, that's what he was,'' said Hoss Johnson, an opposing football player at Butler during their prep days and a Crimson Tide teammate of Walker. "That's what you'll hear from everybody. He was good-hearted. I never saw him mad. He was always a gentleman, didn't cuss. He was always in a good mood.''

Walker's high school coach, Larrie Robinson, called the death "a tragic loss.''

"Super, super kid,'' he said. "He was kind, but on the football field he could turn it on. He had unlimited potential. And you couldn't want a better person. His character was unquestioned. A great boy, great athlete and a wonderful teammate to all concerned.

"I don't know anybody who would say anything bad about Hardy Walker. If they did they weren't telling the truth.''

Walker died while he and his son, Wesley, were mowing the lawn at Walker's in-laws near his home in Pelham. Saturday was Wesley's 18th birthday.

His father, Hardy Walker Jr., was a Marine when he died at Parris Island, S.C. The family then returned to Huntsville, where Bonnie and Hardy Jr. grew up.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

As a 6-foot-4 1/2, 320-pound senior, Walker was rated as the state's top prospect for the Class of '81 by the Birmingham Post-Herald. He was named a Parade All-American and was tabbed the SEC Sports Journal Southeastern Player of the Year by recruiting analyst Forrest Davis.

Walker was also a two-time heavyweight state champion in wrestling.

Walker was part of a "Huntsville connection" of Crimson Tide players in the '80s. He followed Johnson's Mike Adcock and Huntsville's Scott McRae (Class of '80) to The Capstone, signed the same year as did Lee's Ricky Moore and Willard Scissum, and was followed by Butler's Johnson, Lee's Gary Otten and Huntsville's Wes Neighbors ('82).

Neighbors, Walker, Otten, Adcock and Scissum were all offensive linemen.

Walker was named sophomore All-America by the Sporting News prior to that season. He had knee surgery that year, one of several injuries that hindered the rest of his college career.

Walker earned a degree in education in '85, the same year he was given the football team's Charlie Compton Outstanding Christian Athlete award.

He was currently working at Lighting Partnership.

Walker was big as a child, and his mother played a large part in shaping his demeanor.

"He was always so big and I was concerned he'd be a bully,'' Bonnie Jones said. "I bent over backwards to make him nice. At Alabama they had to work on him to make him mean. But I didn't want a bully.''

Walker's combination of size, strength and quickness led Alabama to give him No. 73, the same jersey worn by legendary Crimson Tide offensive lineman John Hannah.

But the injuries slowed his progression as a player, and instead of signing a free agent contract in hopes of making the NFL after graduation he left the game.

"Had it not been for the injuries he'd of been playing for the Green Bay Packers or somebody,'' Robinson said. "He was that kind of athlete.''

Walker took only one official visit before he signed, and that was to Alabama.

"He told me that so many kids wanted a scholarship and he didn't want to take their visits when he knew where he was going,'' Jones said. "He said he remembered watching a game with his father and his father telling him, 'I'd give anything for you to play for Alabama one day.' ''

Walker, whose family on his mother's side has a history of heart problems, trimmed down to 290 while at Alabama. He gained considerable weight after his playing days, but lost over 100 pounds in the mid 2000s.

He began gaining weight again, however, and in 2007 had the first of four stints placed in his heart. He also had high blood pressure and diabetes.

"I anticipated it would happen,'' his mom said, "but I kept praying it wouldn't.''

Said Robinson, "You just couldn't find a better person. You felt better after talking to him.''